Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls
These sweet potato dinner rolls are soft, fluffy, and slightly sweet. Perfect for any occasion, they add warmth and comfort to your table, whether you have a holiday feast or something more commonplace in mind.
These rolls are elevated with a touch of honey and mashed sweet potato, creating a light, ethereal texture that perfects the balance of these with homemade cinnamon butter or flaky sea salt. Perfect for novice and bread pros alike.
Made with simple ingredients, such as whole milk, unsalted butter and yeast, they’re easy to make and guaranteed to be a hit every time. Serve these golden beauties straight from the oven, or save some for later with freezer-friendly tips.
Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls – Directions
The rich, earthy sweetness of mashed sweet potato gives these rolls their characteristic soft texture and subtle taste. When added to warm milk and honey, they have a mild sweetness that is perfectly balanced with the savory elements.
Platinum Yeast provides these rolls with the uplift they need to bake up beautifully, resulting in a light, airy bite for every morsel. The unsalted butter imparts a luxurious richness, and the eggs yields a tender crumb that’s equal parts pillowy and satisfying.
Bread flour provides the structure that runs the gamut from chewy rolls to golden crust. Flaky sea salt — optional, as a finishing touch — round out the flavor, balancing each bite with its depth.
Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls: Improving Your Baking
Recipe Tips
Use freshly mashed sweet potato
Use freshly mashed sweet potato for the best texture. Canned sweet potatoes tend to be looser and can throw off the dough’s moisture balance. Using soft-cooked and mashed sweet potato will lend the rolls the soft, fluffy texture you seek. Don’t fret if there are a few small lumps in the mashed sweet potato — they won’t make any difference to the dough.
Perfect Your Yeast Proofing
When proofing the yeast, make sure the milk is at the correct temperature — warm but not hot. If it is too hot, it might kill the yeast. The optimal temperature is around 110°F (43°C). If you don’t have a thermometer, the milk should feel just warm to the touch, like your skin. This step is important for ensuring the yeast activates correctly, resulting in nice fluffy rolls.
Knead Until Smooth and Pliable
Kneading is an essential part of making bread. Be patient and knead the dough for at least 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. You can do the windowpane test — stretch a small piece of dough thin enough to let the light through without tearing. If it did, your dough is well-kneaded and ready to undergo its first rise.
Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls – What to Serve With
Roast Chicken or Turkey
Other Potatoes: These sweet potato dinner rolls shine alongside something hearty, like roast chicken or turkey. The mild sweetness and softness of the leaf makes them the ideal partner for savory dishes, undercutting rich flavors with a delicate sweetness. Pair them with smooth gravy or a scoop of fridge-pickled cranberry sauce for extra festivity.
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
For a classic comfort meal, serve these rolls with creamy mashed potatoes. The fluffy rolls soak up gravy and mashed potatoes beautifully, so they make for a comforting, substantial side. Serve with a side of sautéed vegetables, such as green beans, Brussels sprouts or the like, for a complete meal.
Soup or Stew
These rolls are also fantastic next to soups and stews, especially if they’re built on a rich, hearty base, like butternut squash soup or a warming beef stew. Their mild sweetness makes them complimentary to both light and creamy soups, while their soft texture makes a perfect dipper for broth-based dishes.
FAQ
Can I Prep Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls Ahead?
Yes! You can make the dough up through the second rise, then refrigerate overnight. Cover the shaped rolls tightly and let rise for 1–2 hours, before baking them the next day. Or, bake them ahead of time and keep them in an airtight container for three days at room temperature.
Can I Freeze the Rolls?
Absolutely. When baked, let them cool completely and then place in a freezer-safe bag or container to freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat, defrost overnight at room temperature or in the refrigerator, then heat in the oven. After reheating, brush with melted butter and flaky sea salt for that fresh-from-the-oven feel.
Can I Use Active Dry Yeast in Place of Instant Yeast?
Yes, you can use active dry yeast instead of instant yeast in this recipe. The rise times will be a bit longer, though.” Make sure to bloom the active dry yeast in warm milk before adding it to the dough since this will better activate the yeast.
Can You Use All-Purpose Flour Instead of Bread Flour?
This recipe calls for bread flour, which lends these rolls their chewier, more structured texture, but all-purpose flour can be substituted in its place. The rolls will still be soft and delicious, but they could be a little less chewy. Either flour will do just fine, so pick depending on what you have available!
Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 medium sweet potato 250–290g peeled and chopped (to yield 1 cup mashed)
- 3/4 cup 180ml whole milk simmering or close to 110°F (43°C)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons Red Star Platinum Yeast 1 standard packet
- 1/3 cup 113g honey divided
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 71 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 and 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 5 and 1/2 cups 715g bread flour spooned and leveled, plus more as needed
- Optional: For finishing 2 tablespoons 28g melted butter and flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Prepare the Sweet Potato:
- Put the chopped sweet potato in a saucepan and cover with water. Add the water and bring to a boil over high heat, then lower to medium-high heat. Cook for another 10-12 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft. Drain and coarsely mash sweet potato with some small lumps remaining. With 1 cup (230g) of mashed sweet potato for the dough, let it cool slightly.
- Proof the Yeast:
- Place milk, yeast and 2 tablespoons honey in the bowl of your stand mixer. Whisk, cover and let sit for 5 minutes. But if you don’t own a stand mixer, you can still use a large mixing bowl and a silicone spatula or wooden spoon. Do not use a hand mixer; the sticky dough gets caught up in the beaters.
- Mix the Dough:
- Stir in the rest of the honey, the eggs, the butter, the sweet potato, the salt and 1 cup (125g) of the flour. If using the dough hook or the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl’s sides, and add the remaining flour. Continue mixing on medium speed until the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes. If the dough seems too wet and unruly, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is soft, slightly tacky and easy to handle.
- Knead the Dough:
- With the dough hook on low speed, knead an additional 5 minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured work surface for 5 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add 1 teaspoon flour at a time until dough is soft and slightly tacky. To see if the dough is ready, do a “windowpane test”: tear off a small piece of dough and stretch it out until thin enough to let light through. If it tears, knead longer.
- First Rise:
- Lightly oil or spray a large bowl with nonstick oil. Put the dough in the bowl and turn it to coat it in the oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, or until double in size. (Usually about 1 and 1/2 hours on the counter.)
- Prepare the Baking Pan:
- Melt butter or nonstick spray on a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- Shape the Rolls:
- When the dough has risen, punch down to remove the air. Using a bench scraper, divide the dough into 20 equal pieces (65–75g each). Form each piece into a smooth ball and place in the prepared pan.
- Second Rise:
- Cover the shaped rolls and allow to rise until they are puffy, 30 to 45 minutes.
- Preheat the Oven:
- Position oven rack lower and heat oven to 350° F (177° C). This position helps to keep the tops from burning.
- Bake the Rolls:
- Bake the rolls for 25 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Internal temperature should be 190°F when checked with an instant-read thermometer. Halfway through baking, rotate the pan. If the rolls start to brown too rapidly, loosely tent the pan with a sheet of aluminum foil after 20 minutes. After baking, brush the rolls with melted butter, and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Allow them to cool for roughly 15 minutes before serving.
- Storing Leftovers:
- Store leftover rolls covered tightly at room temperature for 3 days, or refrigerate up to 1 week.
- Notes
- Notes: Freezing Instructions: Once baked, cool completely before storing the rolls in a freezer-safe container or bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw in the fridge or at room temperature and then reheat in a 300-degree-F (150-degree-C) oven for about 10 minutes. If freezing the rolls, hold off on the melted butter and sea salt until after the reheating step.
- Overnight Instructions: For ease, you can make the rolls in step 1 through step 7, then… Cover the shaped rolls and refrigerate for no more than 15 hours. Allow to rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours before baking. Or allow the dough to rise overnight in the refrigerator and then rise for 2 hours before proceeding with recipe.
- Yeast and Flour Tips: Instant yeast is preferred — although active dry yeast can be used; anticipate slightly longer rise times be using active dry. Bread flour gives you chewier rolls, but all-purpose works, too, and will give you a slightly softer roll without otherwise changing the recipe.
- Sweet Potato Substitutes: If you don’t have sweet potatoes, you can use regular potatoes without modifying the recipe. Canned sweet potato, on the other hand, is a no-go, since it tends to be thinner and could disrupt the moisture equilibrium in the dough.
